Want to meet a culinary superstar who loves Sonoma County? Head to Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience’s Garden to Table Lunch at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens this Friday, hosted by Maneet Chauhan, an Indian-American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author known best as a judge on Food Network’s Chopped.

Chauhan will join KJ Executive Chef Tracey Shepos Cenami and Master Gardener Tucker “Farmer T” Taylor around one long table set in the garden to enjoy exceptional food and wine, including many Indian-inspired dishes such as curried carrots, pea cashew poha, and raita.

Chauhan is an exceptionally successful chef and entrepreneur. After graduating at the top of her class from India’s top culinary and hotel management school, she went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, earning many honors.

Chauhan has worked as a chef in Chicago, New York, and Nashville, where she owns four restaurants of her own. She’s also written the books, “Flavors of My World: A Culinary Tour Through 25 Countries,” “The Journey,” and “Chaat: Recipes from the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India.”

She is the only Indian woman to ever compete on Iron Chef America where she had to go against one of her idols, Masaharu Morimoto. She won Food Network’s Guy Fieri-hosted Tournament of Champions in 2021 and 2024, considered one of the world’s toughest culinary contests. In doing so, she became the first two-time champion, making Gushtaba Kashmiri Goat Meatballs in Korma Sauce and Keema Pav Indian Sloppy Joes with pickled onions and fried chilis.

But that’s not all. This week Chauhan makes her debut as a judge on Chopped Castaways, a new cooking-competition-meets-Survivor television series in which 12 chefs are left on a remote island to face off in a set of challenges, both physical and culinary, with a $100,000 grand prize. It kicked off last night on Food Network and will also stream on HBO Max, with eight episodes set to air.

Click here to watch a preview – and go meet Maneet this Friday for lunch.

Photo By: Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience